Gov. Patrick visits Cape to promote school safety

Gov Deval Patrick released a report with wide-ranging recommendations for school safety improvements during his trip to the Cape on Thursday and announced a state grant program to help schools pay for security upgrades.

By Sean F. Driscoll

capecodtimes.com

By Sean F. Driscoll

Posted Jul. 18, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Sean F. Driscoll

Posted Jul. 18, 2014 at 2:00 AM

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School safety and security report highlights

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School safety and security report highlights

State level:

Funding should be given for active shooting trainings and/or tabletop exercises at school districts and in school buildings.

A separate funding source should be provided to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for the sole purpose of allowing schools to improve safety and security.

District level:

Create a districtwide emergency management team with municipal and school officials to discuss emergency management at least monthly.

Protocols should be established to address social, emotional and behavioral health needs of all students and to identify and intervene with students struggling socially and/or emotionally.

Building level:

Identify one main entrance for all members of the public who enter during the day. After visitors are screened, they should be escorted to and from their destination.

Every classroom should have a "go kit" including emergency supplies, a chart of emergency procedures and a map of the building for use in case of evacuation or a shelter-in-place order.

To read the entire report and all 29 of its recommendations, go to mass.gov/edu.

MASHPEE — Gov. Deval Patrick released a report with wide-ranging recommendations for school safety improvements during his trip to the Cape on Thursday and announced a state grant program to help schools pay for security upgrades.

The initial funding is tiny — $200,000, or about a third of what just one district, Nauset Public Schools, spent on security upgrades after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 students and six staff members dead. But Secretary of Education Matthew Malone said having the line item in the state budget will provide an opportunity to expand funding in future years.

"It's a beachhead for us to move forward on," he said. "We know that the investments over time will be costly. Our report calls that out, and we're looking forward to thinking innovatively about how we can do that."

Patrick discussed the report while speaking at the 20th annual Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Summer Executive Institute, which is being held at Mashpee High School. The report has 29 safety and security recommendations at the state, district and building levels, and was developed by a 22-member task force over a six-month period.

Among the recommendations for each school is for classrooms to have a "go kit" containing water, first aid supplies and emergency plans that can be used in case the school is evacuated or a shelter-in-place order is given. Buildings should have one main entrance for all members of the public to use, and visitors should be escorted to and from their destination after being screened, the report says. Safety procedures should be developed that are appropriate for all grade levels and abilities in a school, the task force recommends.

Not all schools or districts will have to carry out all the recommendations, Patrick said, but the report gives them a blueprint to judge their progress.

"There are different levels of preparedness at different school districts," he said. "It's really important for superintendents, right through the school leadership, to read this report and check where they stand against these best practices."

Barnstable schools Superintendent Mary Czajkowski was on the task force, and said her district has already hit many of the benchmarks in the plan, including having single entrances at each building.

Funding for security upgrades is always a concern, she said, but many of the recommendations don't require money as much as they do time and conversation.

"It isn't always about money. It's about making connections," she said. "Identifying which students are in need of mental health services ... and how do we assess students who we know aren't connecting. You have a high school of 2,000 students; kids are going to feel isolated. How are they making connections to other kids? How are we as educators, as administrators, supporting them to make those connections?"

Patrick's stop at Mashpee High School was the midpoint of his Cape schedule. Earlier Thursday morning, he attended a groundbreaking for a $1.1 million project at Mashpee Commons that is being financed in part by a MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant. The project will extend Market Street southward and is the first step toward adding 382 housing units to the mixed-use shopping center. This phase of construction will add 53 housing units, all rentals, with more expansion to come as the market demands.

Patrick ended his trip in Sandwich, where he toured Cape Medical Supply and had a roundtable discussion with members of the Cape Cod Young Professionals on how to make Cape Cod an attractive and affordable place to live.